Techdirt. Stories filed under "taxi"Easily digestible tech news...https://www.techdirt.com/
en-usTechdirt. Stories filed under "taxi"https://ii.techdirt.com/s/t/i/td-88x31.gifhttps://www.techdirt.com/Fri, 26 Jun 2015 12:32:53 PDTFrance Gives In To Insanity And Rioting Taxi Drivers: Cracks Down On UberMike Masnickhttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150626/11090931472/france-gives-to-insanity-rioting-taxi-drivers-cracks-down-uber.shtml
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150626/11090931472/france-gives-to-insanity-rioting-taxi-drivers-cracks-down-uber.shtmlinsane in protesting the fact that they don't like competition from Uber. They took drivers hostage, set fires and flipped cars over -- basically reminding everyone that "hey, Uber drivers aren't nearly as fucking crazy as taxi drivers." But here's the amazing thing: the French government apparently has decided to appease these modern day luddites:

France ordered a nationwide clampdown on UberPOP on Thursday, siding with taxi drivers who blockaded major transport hubs in angry protests against the popular online ride-sharing service.

Not only that, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, rather than call out the taxi drivers, pretended that it was the fault of "both sides"

Prime Minister Manuel Valls condemned the violence and incidents "on both sides" as the government sought to take a tough stand on the protests while backing the drivers' case.

"They give a deplorable image to visitors to our country," he said during a visit to Colombia, adding that all available legal measures would be taken to halt the UberPOP activity.

The French bureaucrats are now telling law enforcement to seize cars from Uber drivers. Really.

In a toughening of the French stance, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve ordered Paris police to issue a decree banning UberPOP and said cars defying the order would be seized.

"The government will never accept the law of the jungle," he said in a television declaration on Thursday evening.

Again, as most users of Uber and other such services will tell you, the experience tends to be a lot better than crappy cab experiences.

And European bureaucrats sit and wonder why they can't have more innovative internet companies starting up there. Perhaps they should look at situations like this and how they respond to innovative companies that disrupt legacy, monopoly services by providing something that the public actually wants.

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
]]>urls-we-dig-uphttps://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20100517/1307209446Fri, 28 Feb 2014 18:34:00 PSTHouston Issues 'Cease-And-Desist' To Uber To Stop Houston Residents From Communicating With Their GovernmentMike Masnickhttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140228/12001026392/houston-issues-cease-and-desist-to-uber-to-stop-houston-residents-communicating-with-their-government.shtml
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140228/12001026392/houston-issues-cease-and-desist-to-uber-to-stop-houston-residents-communicating-with-their-government.shtmlcovered for a while now how Uber -- the mobile phone-enabled car/taxi ordering service -- has run up against a bunch of obsolete laws in various cities, often leading to bizarre rebuttals from municipal officials. Uber quickly realized that each ridiculous response from a city government was something of a marketing opportunity to introduce itself to new cities. You would think, by now, city officials would learn that the proper thing to do is figure out how to work with Uber to provide better transportation for their citizenry, rather than immediately bowing to demands from taxi/limo companies who fear potential competition.

However, the response from Houston may be the most bizarre of all. Uber had set up a petition for Houston residents, emailing city officials of their support for allowing Uber in that city. In response to this, the city of Houston issued a cease-and-desist, effectively telling Uber to stop asking Houston residents to contact their own elected government about this issues any more.

Robert – Please consider this as a formal demand that your client, Uber, cease and desist from transmitting or aiding in the transmission of form e-mails to City officials regarding the adoption of an ordinance to accommodate their enterprise. Despite my informal request to you by telephone on Monday, the excessive number of e-mails has gone unabated, to the point that it has become harassing in nature and arguably unlawful. Failure to cease and desist will be met with appropriate action by the City.

David M. Feldman
City Attorney
City of Houston

It's ridiculous for Feldman to argue that citizens contacting their own elected officials is a form of harassment and somehow illegal. And, of course, the end result of this is that it just drives that much more attention to the issue (and probably even more emails).

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
]]>your-government-at-workhttps://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20140228/12001026392Wed, 15 Aug 2012 16:37:14 PDTMassachusetts Realizes That Maybe GPS Isn't Too Newfangled After All; Reverses Order & Allows UberMike Masnickhttps://www.techdirt.com/blog/innovation/articles/20120815/15565520065/massachusetts-realizes-that-maybe-gps-isnt-too-newfangled-after-all-reverses-order-allows-uber.shtml
https://www.techdirt.com/blog/innovation/articles/20120815/15565520065/massachusetts-realizes-that-maybe-gps-isnt-too-newfangled-after-all-reverses-order-allows-uber.shtmlbacking down on a bill that would artificially inflate Uber's prices. And now, it's Massachusetts. Yesterday, we noted that the Luddite Council "Sealer of Weights & Measures" had ruled that Uber had to shut down in Boston and Cambridge because of these newfangled "GPS" things (and it didn't even know what GPS stood for).

And... just like that, the "Division of Standards" has issued a "modified hearing decision" on the matter, in which it realizes that perhaps GPS isn't such a crazy, awful, dangerous technology after all. Apparently after re-examining "relevant amendments to Handbook 44 by NIST and NCWM" (National Institute of Standards & Technology and the National Conference on Weights and Measures), they've decided that Uber can continue to operate, granted "provisional" approval, which is "pending the outcome of the NIST study and/or the establishment of any standards for the use of such systems."

In other words, crisis averted for now, but wouldn't it be better for local regulatory agencies to think these things through a bit more in the future rather than defaulting to banning any new and innovative offerings?

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
]]>uber-onwardhttps://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20120815/15565520065Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:40:00 PDTTaxi Owner Copies Innovative Business Model Of Free Shuttles He Just Forced To Shut DownMike Masnickhttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090825/0453005994.shtml
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090825/0453005994.shtmlupset about free competition. Some smart business folks had setup local transportation options, that subsisted on advertising and tips, rather than fares, and thus were able to avoid having to buy a (sold out) taxi cab license. But, of course, the existing cabbies freaked out and complained, and convinced the city council to declare that the free cabs had to buy licenses as well... while conveniently noting that none are available. Basically, the cab drivers got the city council to drive this competition out of town.

But, now there's a bit of a twist. A bunch of folks have sent in the news that one of the guys who pushed the city council the hardest has now suddenly set up his own free shuttle offering in place of the competition that was run out of town. He makes no qualms about the fact that he's copying the idea of the shuttles he just knocked out of business, saying they had a good idea -- he just didn't like the fact that they didn't have to buy a taxi license. Neat trick, huh? Get the government to drive your competitors out of town, and then copy their best ideas.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
]]>regulatory-capturehttps://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20090825/0453005994Wed, 5 Aug 2009 21:50:00 PDTTaxi Driver Does Pay What You Want... And It WorksMike Masnickhttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090804/0146015764.shtml
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090804/0146015764.shtmlsuccessful taxi cab operators offering free service in Tampa, Florida (pissing off existing cab companies), and it appears that the idea is spreading somewhat. Matt Cruse alerts us to a story in Essex, Vermont, involving a guy offering "pay what you want" taxi rides, and finding that people are always willing to pay a reasonable rate. Now, I'll admit that I'm not a huge fan of "pay what you want" models, which seem more like give it away and pray, rather than having a real business model worked out (which makes me wonder if it's sustainable long term). But, in the meantime, it's certainly yet another example that "free," can be a useful tool as a part of a business model.